7 Questions with Tremendosaur

Tremendosaur is a comedic dynamic duo in the shape of two guys who’s name start with J’s. Justin Michaels and Jacob Reed have teamed up to bring us some of the web’s funniest, geekiest, and bizarre viral videos.

This summer they’ll be taking their internet epicness on the road to a campus near you! (maybe). So go check out the funnt guys that made epic viral videos like this one!

7 Questions with Tremendosaur:

1) How did you guys meet and decide to team up?

JR: We met at USC, where we both did improv with a group called Second Nature. We wanted to start trying out sketch comedy and so a couple of us and some other friends formed a group called The Consortium that did a big sketch show at the end of every semester. After a couple years of that, we realized we wanted to do more than two shows a year and the two of us branched off and started writing and filming sketches together.

JM: Yeah, I’d say we spent more of the last couple years of college working on Tremendosaur stuff than academics. The majority of short films I made in film classes ended up being sketches thrown up on our website.

2) What’s your creative process like? Does 1 person usually come in with an idea, or do you do a writers room style process?

JR: It's a little of both. There are definitely sketches we bring to the table individually. A first draft might come from one of us and then we'll rework it together. A lot of the time, we'll sit in front of a computer and write together or beat out a sketch through improv and then furiously try and type it down before we forget it. We refuse to use a tape recorder because we are stupid.

JM: Yeah, it depends. We recently did this video called Taco Time Friend Fiesta, and it was the easiest thing to write because the sketch revolved around being deliberately stupid. It’s easier to make bold, uninhibited choices when you’re not worried about the stakes, and that one was just pure fun as a result. The flip side is when we bang our heads against our laptops because we’re over thinking a script. With live material, we tend to leave things a little looser. It’s nice to find something new and organic on stage through improv and then rework it into the sketch later on.

3) You’ll be touring in 2011, are you going to be taking your sketch comedy to the stage? What’s that transition going to be like?

JR: Yeah! I think people are mostly familiar with us for making web videos, but we started doing live sketches and we try to return to that as often as possible. Earlier this year we did some shows up the coast in Santa Barbara and at SF Sketchfest, and it looks like we'll be doing a whole bunch of Bay Area shows again in October. Over the next two weeks, though, we'll be in Arizona and Texas doing some shows at the National Comedy Theatre in Phoenix, the University of Arizona in Tucson, and as part of the 2011 Out of Bounds festival in Austin, Texas. We're also teaching a couple of workshops about sketch/improv while we're on the road.

4) So what can people expect to get out of the workshops?

JR: Well, they'll mostly be about how to use improv as a tool to generate sketch comedy.

JM: The first half of the workshop will focus on pulling viable sketch ideas from longform improv sets, while the second half will be treated as a writer’s room of sorts, pitching ideas from the improv sets and helping rework/punch up pre-existing drafts people want to bring in.

6) Who do you watch online?

JM: Man, there are too many people. Scott Gairdner is great, what he’s doing with Tiny Fuppets right now is downright incredible. Patrick Carlyle and Allyn Rachel have a web series called Couple Time that I really like. I’m a big fan of anything The Daniels put out. Who else? Good Neighbor, Cream, The Birthday Boys, Fatal Farm, Matt & Oz, Team Tiger Awesome, BriTANick. Swaim and the Cracked crew. Danny Jelinek and Ryan Perez. All great.

JR: Yeah, all those guys are our internet crushes for sure. I think one day Gairdner will just flat out break the internet.

7) What are you most excited about for this tour?

JM: I’ve never been to Austin, so I’m just excited to visit a new city. It’ll be good to get out of LA and do live shows again, I’ve missed it. There’s something more electric and immediately satisfying about having an audience right there with you, actively engaged and laughing as the jokes hit versus reading internet comments after the fact. I also can’t wait to spend over 48 combined hours in the car with Jacob, I hear the more time you spend with a person in a confined space, the more dark secrets you spill. Shit’s about to get real.

JR: I’m excited to be on the road and having all the experiences that go with it. It’s going to be a lot of fun to meet new people and do live shows in new cities. I went to Austin for a couple days last summer, but I was alone and didn’t know anybody so I mostly hung out with homeless people and gave rest-stop handies. This time, I’ll be with Justin as well as Bangarang!, Rough Cut, and a bunch of UCB people. I’m most excited to see Justin try and recreate a few of the Batman Begins sequences when the bats swarm at the Congress Street Bridge. I’m not quite sure what he’s got up his sleeves. Actually, I know he has a lot of fruit up his sleeves. Presumably to attract bats.

So Check the schedule at http://bit.ly/oNG6zM and if they’re near by, I strongly suggest you check these guys out!